Arthur's Catastrohical Date
by Djacruks
Summary: Arthur tells Martin and Douglas about his big date the night before. Douglas and Martin comments.


Cabin Pressure. Humor/recollection.

Arthur tells Martin and Douglas about his big date the night before, with an amusing outcome. Douglas and Martin teases/comments.

Arthur's Catastrophic Date

"If it isn't the modern day flight attendant Casanova," Douglas remarked as Arthur walked into the flight deck. Martin gave out a small laugh. "Hello Skip!" Arthur beamed without noticing Douglas' comment. "How was your big date last night?" Martin asked him, and Arthur automatically blushed slightly. "It went- er… er, well" Martin and Douglas exchanged looks. "Oh dear. Will you be seeing her again?" the latter asked. "Well, she seemed… positive, under the circumstances" "oh" Martin exclaimed. "What could possibly have happened?" Douglas asked, mentally preparing for a good laugh.

"I picked up Abby at her flat, and then we walked to a nearby café," "so far, so good" Douglas noted, and Arthur blushed before he continued. "We ordered drinks - and at the time they arrived, I spilt my drink down my shirt, when I wanted to move the big menu they had given us" A dry "oh" escaped Douglas' lips, and Athur continued. "That wasn't the worst bit. In my rush to dry the wine off my shirt, I accidently got grip of the tablecloth instead of my napkin…" "And so you accidently spilt on your date, too?" Arthur nodded and formed a small "yes." Martin bit his lip to try and not laugh, but Douglas had already started, and it was nearly impossible not to, and before long, they were both laughing. "She didn't seem to mind, really, that I spilt wine on her." "There's more?" Douglas asked, smug as a cat who has found a bird's nest. "Erm, yes" Martin sat up in his captain's seat. "The rest of the dinner went fine, though, but when we got up to pay, I remembered I forgot to bring my card, and by then I had already told her I would pay." "So you called for Carolyn?" Martin asked. "Not before I had asked her if she would mind paying, but she had looked at me a bit funny, so I didn't finish the sentence, and instead called Mum"

The flightdeck was filled with laughter, Douglas' booming, and Martin's audible but subtler. Arthur was embarrassed, yes, but being their friend, providing with something to laugh at was more important. "What happened next?" Douglas asked, pretending to wipe off a tear in laughter. "We walked back to her flat - no incidents whatsoever - and then, when she had let us in, and she was hanging our coats, I accidently let out her cat. Which wasn't supposed to go outside. At all." "No!" was the response from the first officer, clearly enjoying himself thoroughly. "Yes, actually. So she put her coat back on, and I asked if I could help, but she told me to stay out of it" "so the evening was over?"

"No, I decided to help anyway, and I did find the cat" "What did she say?" "She didn't say anything, because I never got back to her with it, before I was stopped by some old lady, who asked me why I had stolen her cat" Laughter boomed heartedly in the flight deck, and this time, the tears wiped away were real. "She did find her cat, though, at the end." Martin smiled genuinely between his laughter. "And then what happened?" "Nothing, really," Arthur shrugged. "I told her goodbye and apologized for the evening, and then I took a cab home"

"Well, that was indeed a very eventful date - even more adventurous than the time Martin was invited to a derby, and realized he was going to ride, too" Douglas said, still chuckling, but making sure Martin was the one blushing.

The conversation on the rest of the flight was mostly about Arthur's unlucky date, but what his friends did not know - and was not supposed to know - was, that Arthur's date with Abby had gone very well, and only the part where he had spilt down her (the tablecloth thing had indeed happened) and he had accidently forgotten his card, which she had taken nicely, but to not lose face, he had asked his Mum to bring his card, had actually happened.

The rest of the evening had been enjoyable, and Abby had proved to be a very nice girl, but Arthur knew his way to be in the group of friends. He needed to be a clot, and he knew far too well how to be a clot.

AN: I know Arthur's a bad liar, and he probably would not have been able to pull off the story, but in my head, he picked up Douglas advice, and used stories he had already done.


End file.
